Eyparsac Castle, tucked away in the serene Limousin countryside, remains hidden gem, shrouded in mystery and history. Though it a private residence and not accessible to the public, its walls resonate with the stories of who once inhabited them. The guardroom features a striking stone fireplace adorned with wooden lintel, where two coats of arms, each crowned with a viscount'sonet, tell tales of noble lineage. Here, amidst the silence, the past whispers through the stone and wood, inviting the curious to unravel its secrets.

Heritage Story: Eyparsac Castle

Nestled in the heart of the Limousin countryside, far from the tourist trail—and for good reason—Eyparsac Castle is a private property, not open to the public. Yet, like any dwelling, it holds secrets. It carries within it the memory of the men and women who lived in it, built it, shaped it, and restored it.

"When men are silent, the stones still speak."

The observer who takes the time to discover it is drawn to the clues hidden in the wood and stone.

On the ground floor, in the so-called guardroom, there is a stone fireplace. On its wooden lintel, a fairly large piece of wood is nailed with large, square-headed, forged nails. A silent witness to the past, it is carved here: two coats of arms side by side, each surmounted by a viscount's coronet. The one on the left: "Gules, a stag argent on a chief azure three mullets or"; the one on the right, depicts "two mullets in chief, a demi-vol in the center, and a crescent in base." They reveal family lineages.

This latter coat of arms can be seen in various places in the castle: above the entrance door at the base of a round tower and on a fireplace plaque set beneath a porch. At the base of each coat of arms, one can distinguish an eight-pointed cross. On either side of the coats of arms are laurel branches.

On the lintel itself, inscriptions are found on either side of the coat of arms: "Lieutenant of the Great Wolf Hunt of France" and "Member of the King's Household, born in 1746." Below, an inverted heart is carved, along with the date 1777.

In one of the building's facades, other clues catch our attention. Red sandstone stones bear the following inscription: "Louis Laubeillas d'Eyparsat, Lieutenant of the Great Wolf Hunt of France." Clearly, by linking his name to the building's stones, this man wanted to be remembered, to have his time on earth commemorated.

Finally, the dates 1777 and 1807 appear on other stones in various locations.

This is enough to pique the curiosity of visitors, perhaps even the owners, and provides a basis for research to establish a land genealogy.

Investigation

Parish registers are an essential first resource. They offer a glimpse into the past and allow us to trace Louis Lobeilhat. The spelling of his surname varies from Laubeillas to Lobeillat to Lobeillac, but he was indeed the lord of Eyparsac, and in fact, the lieutenant of the Grand Wolf Hunt of France, a member of the King's Household.

In the King's Household (the name given by Louis XIV to the combined troops of his guard into a single unit starting in 1667), the Grand Wolf Huntsman was responsible for organizing wolf and boar hunts. Attached to the king, he had various lieutenants in the provinces to represent him during hunts and drives. The position was abolished in 1787 and eliminated with the French Revolution.

Louis Lobeilhat, baptized on August 28, 1746, was the sixth child of Pierre Lobeilhac (1689-1769), a bourgeois, and Marguerite Brachet (1702-1764). His parents' marriage had been celebrated on January 14, 1737, two days before the baptism and therefore the birth of his older sister, Catherine, which occurred on January 16 of the same year!

Louis Lobeilhat first married Marie Fleygnac (1745-1768), but the young woman died in September 1768, at the age of 23, probably in childbirth. The young man then remarried, this time to Marie Lasserre de Molière (1749-1801), probably between 1768 and 1771.

Marie Lasserre had five children: Catherine (born 1771 and married in 1791 to Louis Dulac, a lawyer and fiscal prosecutor for the town of Eymoutiers in Haute-Vienne), Pierre (born 1772 and married in 1797 to Louise Touron), another Pierre (1773-1779), François (1775-1776), and Jeanne (born 1778).

The 1813 land registry shows the château (plot 501), behind which lies a pond (plot 502) that powered a mill: the Eyparsac mill, mentioned in the parish registers of 1692, along with the Brachet family. Among its members at that time were Paul Brachet, Lord of La Siauve, and Louis Brachet, Lord of La Jalésie. Also recorded in 1664 is the marriage of Dominique Brachet, Esquire, Lord of La Jalésie, to Marie de Sanzillon, Lady of Eyparsac.

Since Pierre Lobeilhat, Louis's father, was from another village, it is reasonable to assume that the estate, and therefore the château, came from Marguerite Brachet. The family name is present and associated with Eyparsac as early as 1692, and it is likely that the Eyparsac lands came into the Brachet family through the marriage of Marie de Sanzillon.

Here we have a first set of hypotheses regarding the transmission of property, which needs to be verified by notarial records: marriage certificate, will, post-mortem inventory. But already we can see the importance of women in this transmission and the importance of never neglecting them in land or family genealogy!

The same land registry indicates that the village of Eyparsac still had, in 1813, four oval barns typical of the region, all of which have since disappeared from this hamlet—the last of which was used as a church!—but remarkable examples of traditional craftsmanship!

Coats of Arms:

The coat of arms on the left (above) represents the arms of the de la Serre family, and indeed, among the godparents of Louis and Marie's children are: Sir François de La Serre, Lord of La Chapelle, Knight of the Military Order of Saint Louis, and Lady Jeanne de la Serre de Lusson, their maternal aunt.

The coat of arms on the right is most likely that of the husband: Louis Lobeilhac d'Eyparsac.

This is just a glimpse of the promising start to research, which already opens up numerous avenues of exploration, a wealth of information to collect, analyze, and sort... Later will come the work of writing, formatting the collected information, and choosing illustrations... Enough to bring the house back to life, to showcase it, to understand it!

Now today available for you to stay in the grandness of its charm and luxury!

Avalible all year round

For your wedding or Holiday